


Riotous Coincidences

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Actor Castiel, Asexual Castiel, M/M, Oblivious Sam, doggies!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-10 17:59:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7855303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Sam runs into Cas, it's a slightly embarrassing encounter that he doesn't think much of.  After the fourth or fifth time he runs into the guy, he finally realizes who Cas is: a TV star whose show films in the general area.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Riotous Coincidences

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from mewlink: http://mewlink.tumblr.com/post/115791883100/more-au-ideas  
> Found throught DailySPNPrompts: http://dailyspnprompts.tumblr.com/  
> • “You’re sort of famous and we vaguely know each other through bumping into each other all the time but the media thinks we’re dating”

It started off so simply. Sam was out walking his dogs and Riot’s collar broke. After running wild for a bit, he knocked over a man. The man wrapped his arms around Riot and held on until Sam and Bones caught up. “I am so sorry!” Sam knelt beside the dogs, transferring Bones’s collar to Riot. “Are you okay?”

“I got to pet a dog. Worth a bit of a bump!” The guy got to his feet and held out a hand. “Cas.”

“Sam.” Sam shook the guy’s hand. Dammit, why did he have to be one of the cutest guys Sam had ever seen? It's hard to flirt with a guy your dog just knocked over. “I swear, I know how to train dogs. Riot’s new. Some guy hit him with his car and couldn’t keep him, and the vet who saved his life is an old friend who asked me to take him.”

Cas bent over to pet Riot some more, and offered a hand to Bones as well. “Well, he seems to have healed up well. And as your other dog seems well-behaved, I have faith in you.”

“Thanks." Riot started tugging on the leash again. "I should probably get them home, Bones’s collar won’t hold long on Riot. Thanks for catching him.”

Cas’s eyebrows nearly shot off his face, but he nodded. “Good luck with the training.”

 

A couple days later, Sam was sent out to pick up lunch for the firm. As he waited for the sandwich place to finish the trays, Cas walked in with a couple of friends. Sam ducked his head, hoping his hair would hide his face enough that the lawyer suit would throw Cas off from the jeans-and-flannel guy from the park. The woman went to claim a table while the other guy went to order, and Cas came over to Sam. “Hello, Sam. How are your dogs?”

Not only had the guy remembered him, he remembered his name. Maybe it wasn't quite the disaster Sam had thought? “Riot’s still full of energy, and Bones is still tolerantly amused by his antics. But Riot’s learning, so there’s that.”

“Good to hear.”

Cas looked like he wanted to say more, but his friend was finished ordering. “Hey Cas! Quit flirting and get over here, you know this is supposed to be a working lunch.”

Cas rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry. Ignore Gabriel, but I do have to go.”

“Just as well, that looks like me they’re bringing out now anyway. Nice seeing you again.” Sam took the trays from one of the workers and led the other out to his car.

 

Then it was bumping into each other at the grocery store. Cas leaving the bowling alley as Sam went in. Sam picking up his step-nephew at school and seeing Cas talking to the principal. Ben grinned when he noticed what Sam was staring at. “He came and talked to our class today. He’s pretty cool.”

Cas came over. “Hi! Your son?”

“Nephew. You talk to elementary schools often?”

Cas shrugged. “Yeah, they usually ask me to come out about once a year. Talk to kids about setting goals and following dreams. All the area schools do it. I can’t get to all of them in one year, but I try to get as many as I can.”

“That’s cool! I’ve been out to talk to high schools occasionally at career fairs, but not elementary school.”

“By high school, there’d be too much distraction. I much prefer dealing with the younger children.”

“Yeah, I can see that. I wouldn’t mind doing an elementary school career fair. Less prejudice, less misinformation from TV shows.”

Cas looked at Sam oddly. “You really don’t have any idea who I am, do you.”

Aside from the cutest guy Sam had ever met and who he kept running into for no apparent reason? “Um… you’re Cas? The guy Riot knocked over.”

“Google me sometime. Castiel Zorka.” Cas winked at Ben and headed back to the principal. Sam's brow furrowed. The name was familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

 

Sam had forgotten, between Ben’s baseball practice and then Dean and Lisa dragging him out to celebrate Dean’s promotion to garage manager at the oil company, but then Lisa asked Ben about school. “Dean, you didn’t raise Sam right. Castiel Zorka was at our school today and Sam had no idea who he is.”

“Sam!” Dean smacked Sam’s head. “You know who Castiel Zorka is.”

“I do?” Once again, Sam tried to place the familiar name.

“You do.” Dean started humming, and Sam recognized it as the theme song to a TV show Dean and Lisa both loved. A show about cowboys and the Wild West.

When it hit him, Sam nearly spit out his beer. “Oh my god. Sheriff Jimmy.”

“Sheriff Jimmy.” Dean grinned and turned back to Ben. “Tell me you’re not letting me down too and that you got his autograph.”

“Sort of. I mean, he didn’t actually sign it in front of me or anything, but he brought autographed pictures to hand out. It’s in my backpack.”

 

As soon as he got home, Sam started bingewatching the show. He’d never really been into westerns, but Dean was, and Sam had seen bits and pieces. So he knew not to expect Cas to show up right away.

He’d nearly made it to the end of the first season by the time he ran into Cas again, back at the park. He was training Riot when he heard the greeting. “Hello.”

“Hey. Uh. Hi, Cas. Riot, no!” Riot, naturally, had come bounding over to investigate the distraction, and was just about to jump on Cas again when Sam called him off.

Cas laughed and held out a hand for the dog to sniff. “Hello, Riot.” When Riot headbutted the hand, Castiel knelt and started petting the dog. “See? No need to jump on people to get attention when you’re a beautiful doggy. People will always pet you when you’re a good boy.”

Sam grinned. He couldn’t help it. “Dog lover, then?”

“Animal lover…" Castiel gave Sam a bit of an embarrassed smile. "Except horses. I am scared of horses. I wish there were a cool story about having been thrown off one and trampled, but it's just one of those weird things.”

“Really? Given your job… I'd have thought you'd have solved that by now.”

Cas looked up. “I take it you Googled me?”

Sam's turn for the embarrassed smile. “Didn’t have to. My nephew told on me and Dean hit me with the Older Brother Contempt Ray. Jogged my memory.”

“Older Brother Contempt Ray?”

“You don’t have an older brother, do you." Castiel shook his head, but he was grinning. "My brother informed me he was going to marry his girlfriend when they agreed that the best time to introduce him to her son was to watch the season finale of Coyote Horizon together.”

“Which season?”

“Season six.”

Cas shook his head. “I’m so sorry. That was a terrible finale. I hated that entire plot arc. Unfortunately, the writers heard that and decided to wrap it up early… which meant giving it the stupidest possible ending.”

“Don’t spoil it for me. I’ve seen bits and pieces of the show here and there from being Dean’s brother and babysitting Ben, but I’ve never actually seen most of the show so I have no context for the few things I do know. I started watching, but I'm still in the first season.”

“Don’t get too impatient, I didn’t join the show until season four. I’ve heard fans advocating skipping the first three seasons as unimportant backstory, but I disagree strongly.” Castiel laughed. "Of course, I also disagree strongly with the fans who think the show should've ended when Sheriff Vic left to chase his obsession and, if anything, seasons four on should've been Coyote Horizon The Spinoff. We're still the same show."

“Season four? Wow. I knew you came in late, but I didn’t realize it was that late. I’m enjoying it, though. More than I thought I would.”

“Not a fan of Westerns?”

Sam shrugged. If it weren't for Dean, he'd probably never have watched a Western in his life, really. “So many of them ignore the truth of the old West, how there were a lot of people of color and women weren’t just schoolmarms and saloon girls. Your show’s different, and I love that about it.”

Cas nodded. “I’m not going to spoil anything, but I think you’ll enjoy the show even more soon, then.”

“Oh, you mean Gwen Russell becoming Gary the Rustler? I didn’t miss the media uproar over a trans cowboy.”

“I wish they hadn’t written him off. At least they let him escape to Mexico instead of having to be killed.”

“Could bring him back, you know.”

“Every so often I hear it pitched to do a movie with Sheriff Vic chasing Gary to Mexico and trying to bring him in, but they've never gotten a script together that's made it past both production and the creative team. I don't think it'll happen, and if you bring Gary back to the show, it would disrupt the new directions we've gone. You'd have to bring back Sheriff Vic, too, and while I wouldn't have a problem with that, Chuck keeps saying the show ain't big enough for the both of us.”

Sam laughed. “Yeah, I guess not.”

Castiel got back to his feet with a regretful look down at Riot. “I should probably let you and Riot get back to work. I hope you continue enjoying the show.”

“Thanks. Good to see you.”

 

It was a few days before Sam saw Cas again. He’d just finished season 2, and he and Dean were discussing the finale over beers at Dean’s favorite bar while watching a baseball game. “I can’t believe Nick turned out to be the killer! He was such a nice guy, looking after that kid Ruby Jewel… I’m scared of what’s gonna happen to her, now that Nick’s gone. Her mom’s awful!”

Dean groaned. “It’s not pretty. But they had to kill him, he killed how many people? Six? Stirred up trouble with the Apache village.”

“I know… oh, wow.” Sam waved to Cas, who'd just come in with a group of friends, some of whom Sam now recognized as other actors from Coyote Horizon.

Cas came over with a big smile. “I take it this is the brother I’ve been hearing about?”

“Yeah. Dean, this is Castiel Zorka. Cas, my brother Dean.”

“Hi, Dean. I’d meant to give this to Sam to give to you, but since you’re here…” Castiel reached into a pocket of his trench coat and pulled out a badge with Cas’s autograph across the back in Sharpie. “I hear you’re a fan.”

“Wow. This is awesome!” Dean showed Sam the badge with an awestruck look. “Thanks. My wife and I love your show so much.”

“Me, too. That’s why I’m still doing it.” Cas saluted and headed back off to his friends.

 

Sam was on the way home from work a couple days later when his phone rang. “There something you been meaning to tell me, Sammy?”

“Dean?" Sam tried to run through the last couple of weeks to figure out what Dean could possibly mean. Nothing major had changed in his life. "No. Why?”

“Mind explaining why Lisa brought home a magazine asking about Castiel Zorka’s new mystery man?”

“I don’t mind a bit, but I have no idea what you’re talking about. Him seeing someone isn't something that's come up in the whole half hour I've spent with him.”

“They blurred your face, but that’s Riot he’s petting. And Ben’s school. And they edited me out so it looks like the two of you meeting up at a bar.”

“I… seem to be running into him a lot, but it’s a few minutes every few days. I’m not dating Castiel Zorka. You know I’d have told you. I don’t even know how to contact him to ask him about this.”

“You might wanna check out the photos they’ve got. Really looks like he likes you, Sammy. Everything I've heard about him makes him out to be a good guy, so if you're interested... might wanna see if you can make it come true?”

"I'll think about it. What magazine is it?"

 

Sam stopped at a gas station and bought a copy of the magazine. Sure enough, there was a story about Castiel’s new flame. Complete with photos that sure made it look like their five-minute meetings were dates, and quotes from Cas’s friends about how spacey he’d been the last couple of weeks since he got hit by a dog.

When he went to the park with Riot and Bones, he was still thinking about the magazine. Riot had been somewhat better behaved lately, so when he started jumping, Sam was confused… until he saw Castiel heading toward them. When he got there, Castiel knelt and held out hands to the dogs first. “Hello, Riot. Hello, Bones. I missed you last time, Bones. I’m sorry about that.” He looked up to Sam. “Hello, Sam. Have you seen…?”

“Yeah. Dean told me about it and I bought a copy.”

“Okay. I’m sorry. It didn’t occur to me that people might have noticed that I kept running into the same man, because this is the first time I’ve ever actually deliberately gone somewhere hoping to run into you.”

“What about…”

“Giving Dean the badge?" Castiel smirked. "My coat has several pockets and the badge isn’t heavy. After running into you every few days by coincidence, I figured I’d run into you again sooner or later, so I had it with me all the time.”

Sam chuckled. Sounded reasonable enough. “So you’re not into me, you’re just using me for the dog petting?”

“Yes. Exactly. I love your dogs and if I’m nice to you you’ll let me pet them.” Castiel shook his head. “Actually, I do like you, and I’d been thinking about asking you out. But then this happened, and I would definitely understand if that would scare you off.”

“Wait, what? I thought you…" Sam stopped and cleared his throat. "The magazine made a big deal out of how you always said you never wanted a girlfriend.”

Castiel’s lips quirked into a half-smile. “Funny how no one ever thought to ask the obvious follow-up question of if I ever wanted a boyfriend. The answer to that one’s a lot more complicated. Which is probably enough to scare you off even if the invasive press wasn’t.”

“Come on.” Sam handed Bones’s leash to Castiel and led them over to a park bench. “What’s so complicated about it?”

Castiel petted Bones for a little while before answering. "I’m asexual. And while I do want a romantic partner, it takes me a while to get to the point where I feel comfortable enough with someone to actually be romantic with them. Too long for most people to hang around. It’s not anything about my partner, it’s about me. I don’t know why I’m like that and I wish sometimes I weren’t, but it’s who I am and I don’t think I can change it.”

“If it’s who you are, then you probably shouldn’t try.” Sam reached out and started petting Riot. “The sex part’s easy enough for me to deal with. As long as you don’t mind me occasionally disappearing to take care of things, I can do celibacy easily enough. The romance will be harder, but I’d be willing to try.”

“Even with the press?”

Sam laughed. “I have no idea what I’m doing there. I’ve always been that anonymous guy who on the last day of class people look at and say ‘Who are you? Have you been in this class the whole time?’ So it’ll be weird, but I’m already in a magazine now, so… let’s give it a try. If I can’t handle the press or the lack of romance, at least we’ll know.”

“You barely know me.”

“I know what I need to.” Sam whistled to Riot, who barked and moved his head over to Sam's lap for petting. “Riot likes you. Bones likes you. Dean likes you. With those three endorsements, it’s enough for me to take a chance.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments always welcome and loved and given a kitty to cuddle with!


End file.
